A new version of the popular Swiftkey Android app analyses your emails to work
out what you're likely to type in future

Typing may never be the same again, thanks to a new mobile phone application that knows what to say before you do.

Swiftkey, developed by a British company from London, can predict entire messages on the basis of a user’s previous texts and emails. Analysis of what a person has previously written on Google Mail, Facebook or Twitter allows the software can work out what an individual is likely to say in future. As the software continues to be used, its understanding of writing subject and style also evolves.

The manufacturers of Swiftkey claim that 84 per cent of all words typed are correctly predicted after the user has typed just one or two letters. Approximately a third of all “second words” is predicted without a single character being typed.

Swiftkey was initially demonstrated at Mobile World Congress 2010 in Barcelona. Its new version incorporates the analysis of a user’s vocabulary and style from Gmail and others, and also offers a new focus on tablets. The aim is to make the software more attractive to users who tend to hold a tablet computer horizontally and type with two thumbs. The traditional ‘Qwerty’ keyboard layout is split down the middle with a number pad in the centre.

Swiftkey is built for Google Android and is embedded into the new INQ ‘Facebook Phone’. The makers were also the only British company to be chosen by Google to demonstrate some of the features of its new Android Market. Interest has also reportedly been expressed by other major manufacturers who are all keen to differentiate their tablets from other Android models.